Drilling systems are generally known to include a vertical drill tower (e.g. mast, etc.) constructed from structural members such as steel beams and reinforcing supports. The drill tower is often coupled to a mobile platform (e.g. which along with other components typically form a drilling rig) for positioning the drill tower in a desired location to conduct a drilling operation. The drill tower is often equipped with a drill carousel which is structured and adapted to support a drill string formed from a combination of pipe segments (e.g., drill pipes, drill rods, drill extenders, etc.). The drill carousel is used to selectively add the pipe segments to the drill string for drilling a hole having a desired depth. The drill carousel is intended to allow a drilling operation to progress into the drill hole by making readily available a continuous string of pipe segments as needed for advancing a drilling tool into a drill hole.
Throughout the drilling operation, it is often desirable or necessary to add or remove a pipe segment from the drill string in order to meet a desired drilling depth, such as a depth that is greater or deeper than the depth restricted by the length of the drill tower. To minimize downtime in the drilling operation due to adding or removing a pipe segment, systems and mechanisms may be provided to facilitate moving the drill carousel to a change-out position and adding or removing pipe segments from the drill string. Typically, a drill pipe rack is used to store drill pipes on the mast. The drill pipe rack may be coupled to the mast and may be actuated between an operational position and a storage position to add or remove a drill pipe from the drill string. The drill pipe rack is in contact with the drill pipe at ends of the drill pipe.
For the drill pipe rack to function efficiently, it is vital that both the ends of the drill pipe move in tandem with each other. A support pipe structure extends along a length of the drill pipe and supports actuation mechanisms near both the ends of the drill pipe. The support pipe ensures a symmetric actuation of both the ends of the drill pipe. However, the support pipe is typically very heavy and adds a lot of weight to the drilling system. As the drilling system needs to be transported, and requires frequent position and inclination changes, movement of such a heavy weight adds a lot of operational cost to the overall drilling system.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved drill pipe rack which may overcome the problems described above.